Our reader Liam contacted us to sound a warning about the pricing at Tesco:
I do most of my shopping in Tesco, and despite their recent attempts to portray themselves as a Lidl-style discouter, they’ve actually been steathily raising the prices of a fair few products. Some examples:
- Tesco Italian Meats selection – was 2.89, now 3.99
- Tesco Hummus – was 0.99, now 2.29
- Tesco Ultra Kitchen Paper (6) – was 4.79, now 5.94
- Johnsons baby wipes – was 3.69, now 4.19
These are just a few examples of products I buy (or used to buy), I’m sure theres loads more. In some cases they have hidden the price rise by bringing in a short term offer at the same time (eg – the hummous was 2 for €3 for a while, but has now reverted to the regular, increased price). Tesco – giving with one hand, while taking with the other.
This was also covered in Pricewatch before Christmas, when a number of readers got in touch with Conor Pope to complain about sneaky price hikes at Tesco. Tesco are also notorious for a number of deceptive practices, such as:
- Sticking ‘low price’ stickers on items that are not reduced, and somtimes even when the price has been increased
- Displaying huge reduction announcements beside items that have only been reduced by a few cents, presumably in the hopes that shoppers just notice the sale offer and don’t bother checking the previous price. WAS €1.59. NOW €1.55.
- Displaying notices boasting that their prices are exactly the same as Dunnes and SuperValu, a practice that has always baffled me. (To be fair to Tesco, the other supermarkets do it too). Don’t these notices just reinforce the feeling that all the major supermarkets are ripping us off and it doesn’t matter where you go?
I rarely shop in Tesco, for all the above reasons really. Have you noticed stealthy increases in your local Tesco?
Tuesday 27 January, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Me too, I never shop in Tesco for ‘moral’ reasons, and despite the fact that they are the closest supermarket to me…
Tuesday 27 January, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I’ve noticed they also will often only stock two variations on the same thing, one that is very very cheap and nasty and one that is very expensive. There is no mid-range choice. If you’re in a bind, you often end up having to fork out a lot of money for something that should be good value.
Tuesday 27 January, 2009 at 5:35 pm
I do most of my shopping there, worst luck and I agree that their priceing policy is sneaky.(continualy going up and down day by day)
value mushrooms was £1.36/750g now £1.99/750g tesco scotish oats was 25p/500g now 65p/500g. danish salami was 58p now78p. Whole cucmber was 99p now £1.28.
This is just a small selection of the types of items that have their prices changed on a regular basis. you can see it starts to add up to alot of money.
As part of a personal healthy eating campain I started to buy tesco sunflower seeds 45p/300grams then after about 4 months they put the price up to £2.98/300g, the price yesterday had gone up to £3.11/300g and I am not joking.
I hate the fact that many times when I check the price for a large value pack of a particular item it works out more expensive than just buying lots of small packs of the same item. We were always told, buy the big one for good value but Tesco has turned this logic on its head.
Welcome to Rip-off-Tesco
Thursday 29 January, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Their 6 pack range of dog food has also increased!
Tuesday 3 February, 2009 at 4:11 pm
How can tesco who claim to be cutting their prices daily justify the price of a 500g bag of prunes rising from £1.88 just before christmas 2008 to a whopping £3.08 by early Feb 2009…….That’s CRIMINAL
Monday 2 March, 2009 at 12:45 pm
I don’t know about individual prices but my weekly basket is definetely not in any way cheaper….That’s what matters at the end of the day, isn’t it?
Saturday 28 March, 2009 at 12:33 am
Dont shop in tescos but i bought giga pack of pampers normally 43.99 down to 21.99 thats 160 nappies compared to dunnes special offer of mega pack reduced to 19.99 for 120 nappies. seems it does pay to shop around.
Friday 3 April, 2009 at 9:56 am
Yeah their price of heineken has risen from €1.79 in the summer to €1.89 before christmas now is €1.99. they can’t blame raise in taxation because they did this before the budget!
Saturday 15 August, 2009 at 3:03 pm
YES, Pork 1.29 upto 1.81. Sausages 1.29 up to 1.99.
Butter not sure if it was the cornish or devon though stopped buying both used to be .99 now 1.29. Even Bread has had massive increases useless you buy their own value bread which has no texture at all
Tuesday 15 February, 2011 at 1:51 am
Felix catfood went from 5.29 to 6.49euro in one week.
Tuesday 15 February, 2011 at 10:19 am
John, stop feeding your cat wet food. Its terrible for them; switch to dry and your cat will be less flatulant (you won’t be amble to blame him anymore) and its cheaper in the long run.
Monday 4 March, 2013 at 3:01 pm
Tesco have all types of tricks to get the most from your purse. McDonnell’s curry powder was 3.79 now 3.99 and anyone who shops there will know their special offers are rarely on the everyday staples but usually on things we don’t use everyday.